Update Policy and Refresh Cadences

This page documents how Chatbotscape keeps its reviews, scoring, and methodology current. The defensibility of any platform review depends on how recently the underlying data was verified, so we publish refresh cadences explicitly. If you read a Chatbotscape review and want to know whether the data is current enough for your decision, the dated "Last verified" fields in each review and the cadences documented below are the canonical answers.

Refresh cadences at a glance

On-demand triggers override cadence. Vendor pricing-page DOM signature changes, partnership-status changes detected on partner directories, methodology version bumps, and material vendor news (acquisition, sunset, major product change) all trigger interim refreshes regardless of cadence.

Why these specific cadences

Pricing refreshes more often than features. SaaS pricing changes weekly across the chatbot platform category — vendors A/B test pricing pages, restructure tier limits, and shift channel availability with surprising frequency. A 90-day pricing refresh for Tier 1 platforms balances staying current against the operational cost of constant re-verification.

Functional features refresh on a 6-month cycle for Tier 1. Feature surfaces (AI capabilities, channel coverage, integration partners, certification claims) change more slowly than pricing, typically with vendor product release cadences. A 6-month re-verification cycle catches major feature additions or deprecations without constant re-verification overhead.

Brand search volume refreshes quarterly. Brand vol is a market-signal input rather than a vendor-controlled fact. Quarterly Ahrefs API queries across the 10 target countries (US, BR, MX, ES, AR, CO, IN, GB, DE, FR) capture popularity shifts without consuming excessive API units.

Aggregator scores refresh on the same 6-month cycle as functional features. G2, Capterra, and TrustPilot scores drift gradually as new reviews accumulate. Major shifts (>0.3 stars or >20% review count change) trigger interim refresh; routine drift is captured at scheduled cycles.

Methodology pages refresh quarterly. The methodology itself updates at most quarterly. Mid-quarter methodology drift would create inconsistency across reviews published under different versions; we batch methodology updates and propagate them to all Tier 1 reviews at the next scheduled refresh cycle.

On-demand refresh triggers

Beyond scheduled cadences, the following events trigger interim refreshes:

Vendor pricing-page DOM signature change. We monitor Tier 1 vendor pricing pages with a daily scan; when a DOM signature changes, we re-verify pricing within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review regardless of where the platform sits in the 90-day cadence. This catches mid-quarter pricing changes that would otherwise go un-surfaced for weeks.

Partner directory status change. When a vendor's listing on Meta Business Partner Directory, Google Cloud / Marketing partner directories, AWS Partner Network, or HubSpot Solutions Directory changes — added, removed, tier-shifted, or status-modified — we re-verify partnership-status claims in any affected review within 14 days.

Material vendor news. Acquisitions, vendor sunsets, major product launches, funding rounds with material runway implications, or compliance certification additions/removals trigger interim review updates within 14 days. The editorial review process judges materiality based on whether the news would change an SMB buyer's decision.

Methodology version bumps. When the methodology version increments (for example, v3.12 → v3.13), all Tier 1 reviews are flagged for re-evaluation against the new version at the next 90-day scheduled refresh. Substantive methodology changes (rubric weight rebalancing, new dimensions, scoring formula changes) propagate to all Tier 1 reviews; minor changes (clarifications, anti-pattern policy updates) propagate at the next refresh.

Reader-flagged corrections. Verified factual corrections submitted by readers trigger interim refresh within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review. Routine corrections (typos, link fixes) batch into the next quarterly refresh.

Audit responses. Editorial review process audit responses (in response to vendor disputes or reader audit requests) trigger version-history entries documented in the affected review.

Version history protocol

Every Chatbotscape page that contains substantive editorial content carries a version-history block visible at the page footer. Version-history entries follow this pattern:

- **YYYY-MM-DD (vX.Y)** — Specific change description. Trigger: scheduled / on-demand / reader correction / methodology version bump. Sections affected: [list].

Material corrections (factual errors that could influence buyer decisions) are described in detail with the original claim, the corrected claim, and the verification source. Routine corrections (typos, formatting, link fixes) are described summarily.

What's tracked in version history:

• Factual content changes (pricing updates, feature claim updates, scoring shifts)
• Methodology version applied to the review
• Aggregator score updates (G2/Capterra/TrustPilot)
• Brand vol updates (refresh date)
• Partnership status changes
• Editorial framing changes (voice, persona, anti-pattern policy applications)
• Audit responses (in response to reader or vendor disputes)

What's NOT tracked individually in version history:

• Spell-checking and typo fixes that don't affect meaning
• Formatting and CSS changes that don't affect content
• Image optimization or alt-text adjustments
• Internal link updates
• Metadata-only changes that don't surface to readers

These routine updates batch into a quarterly "routine maintenance" entry without individual line items.

DOM signature monitoring

Tier 1 vendor pricing pages are monitored with a daily DOM-signature scan. The monitor captures the hashed signature of the pricing section's structure (tier names, price values, plan limits) and compares against the previous day's signature. When the signature changes, the change is flagged for human review and a pricing re-verification cycle is triggered within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review.

DOM signature monitoring is a tooling implementation detail; readers see the result as "Pricing re-verified on [date]" footer updates on affected reviews. The monitor is designed to catch silent vendor pricing changes that would otherwise persist in published reviews until the next scheduled refresh.

Editorial review process role in updates

The editorial review process holds editorial responsibility for:

• Approving methodology version bumps before propagation to reviews
• Reviewing reader audit requests and responding within reasonable time as the editorial team scales — typically 7-14 business days for substantive review
• Authorizing interim refreshes triggered by on-demand events
• Determining the materiality threshold for "material vendor news" triggers
• Sign-off on quarterly refresh batches before publication

The editorial review process is composed of senior editorial team members and does not include vendor representatives, advertiser representatives, or affiliate-program managers. Council membership is documented at /about/editorial-team.

How to find the freshness date of a specific review

Every Chatbotscape review carries a visible "Last updated" field in the page footer and a more detailed "Last verified" breakdown in the frontmatter:

• Pricing last verified — date of the most recent vendor pricing page re-verification
• Features last verified — date of the most recent vendor product page re-verification
• Aggregator scores last verified — date of the most recent G2/Capterra/TrustPilot scan
• Brand vol last verified — date of the most recent Ahrefs API query
• Methodology version — which methodology version produced the headline score
• Next scheduled refresh — date of the next planned refresh cycle

If any "Last verified" date is more than 6 months stale, the review carries a banner flagging the staleness and pointing the reader to either the next scheduled refresh date or the editorial review process contact form for interim refresh requests.

What happens when a vendor sunsets

When a vendor announces sunset (discontinuation), end-of-life, or acquisition with subsequent product discontinuation, the affected review is updated within 14 days with:

1. Sunset banner at the top of the review summarizing the announcement, the discontinuation timeline, and the migration recommendations
2. Migration guide link to /migrate/{vendor}-to-{recommended-platform} if a migration target is available
3. Frozen scoring — scoring is locked at the last pre-sunset re-verification date; the review remains accessible for historical reference but no longer competes in best-of lists or comparison rankings
4. Reduced refresh cadence — sunset reviews drop to annual refresh for archival accuracy rather than 90-day cadence

Drift is the canonical recent example (sunset announced late 2025). Drift's review on Chatbotscape carries sunset banner, migration guides to alternatives, frozen 2025 scoring, and reduced refresh cadence.

Version history of this page

• 2026-05-26 (v1.0) — Initial publication aligned to methodology v3.12.1. Cadences formalized after Tier 1 anchor batch revealed the need for explicit DOM-signature monitoring and on-demand trigger documentation.

Related pages

• Methodology overview — full scoring rubric and refresh-cadence summary
• Review standards — 14 pre-publish quality gates
• Sources — data sources catalog with refresh cadences per source
• Editorial policy — corrections and audit-request process